


Choices

by YumeArashi



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: (for s1 anyhow), Fix-It, Gen, Possibly OOC, Post-Canon, Spoilers, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 09:45:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18134138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeArashi/pseuds/YumeArashi
Summary: What happens when Vanya wakes up





	Choices

Whenever they emerged, the theater was still standing - much newer looking, and luckily empty. After a moment to recover from the nausea and disorientation of time travel, Allison tugged on Luther’s arm. “Put her down.”

“Allison, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

"Why, so you can choke her out again if you need to?" Allison said tartly. "If she wakes up in your arms she's going to be terrified."

"And that will end badly for us and also for the world," Five added, "And then I'll need to try to do this again and it'll probably go even worse. So unless you want to end up in diapers, put her the fuck down, give her plenty of space, sit in a corner and think about what you've done."

Luther scowled, but set Vanya down and backed well away.

Alison wrapped her unconscious sister in her arms and looked around at their brothers fiercely. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. No more attacking Vanya. No more locking her up. No more trying to force her to do things. No more tricking her. No more excluding her. When she wakes up, the first thing she's going to hear is that we love her and we're sorry and we are never going to do anything like that ever again. She's our sister and we are going to treat her like family, not a threat or a nonentity. Understand?"

She glared until she received nods from all of them, some of them more willing than others.

"Did you mean that?" came the very quiet question.

Allison looked down to see Vanya blinking groggily up at her. She hugged Vanya tightly, stroking her hair. "Of course I did. You're my sister and I love you and I'd never want to hurt you. I meant it when I said I love you, every single time. And I was an ass to keep pushing when you obviously weren't ready to hear what I was telling you, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the times we didn't include you and I'm so, so, so sorry I Rumored you into thinking you were normal." Tears ran down her face and trickled through Vanya's hair.

Vanya started to cry as well. "I'm sorry too, I'm so sorry I hurt you, I didn't want to, I didn't mean to, when I thought I'd killed you, I…" she broke off, sobbing.

"It's okay, it's okay sis, I'm fine, see, I'm not even hurt, it's okay. And this time we're going to help you, we're going to help you learn about your powers in a healthy way and you'll never have to worry about accidentally hurting someone again. No one's going to try to make you normal ever again."

Klaus came over, carefully dabbing at Vanya's tears with a corner of his shirt. "I know it's a rough time you're going through. Scary new powers you can't control. The people who should understand not listening and not helping when you try to reach out. But we're not gonna do that anymore. Dad fucked us up six ways from Sunday, but like you said, he's gone now, so now we can decide whether to be the assholes. And we're not gonna, not anymore."

"Especially not a certain someone who owes you a extra apology for going with the asshole Dad playbook on how to treat you," Diego gave Luther a hard look. 

"With his own added dash of extra asshole for telling you that you were forgiven and welcome and safe and offering comfort, then turning on you and betraying you," Five added, glaring.

Luther's expression was somewhere between sulky and embarrassed. "I shouldn't have done that," he admitted. "I shouldn't have let Dad's opinions be more important to me than your own well-being. I should have tried to help you."

Vanya considered him. "I don't think I can accept that apology. At least not right now. But I appreciate it. And if you really do change, maybe in time I can."

"Fair enough," Luther mumbled.

"A second chance like this is huge," Ben spoke up quietly. "People don't get a chance to redo their lives every day. It won't be easy to let go of the past, of the way he shaped us all. But we can. Things can be different this time. We can choose another way, a better way."

"We can be a real family," Allison nodded. "Siblings, not just teammates."

"Support and help each other," Five agreed.

"No more excluding and neglecting," Klaus added softly.

"No more ranks and superiority," Diego gave Luther a pointed look.

"No more competing and jealousy," Luther returned evenly.

"No more being turned into weapons," Ben spoke up. "No more being experiments. No more being pushed to develop powers beyond what we can handle. We're people, not numbers or tools or pawns." 

"And we're not valued by our powers alone. No one is 'just' anything," Vanya said firmly.

"From now on we're in this together - all of us," Allison nodded decisively, giving Vanya a reassuring smile. "We love each other, we listen to each other, we take care of each other. We watch ourselves and each other for the bullshit behaviors that Dad developed in us, and when we see them, we stop them. Does that sound like a family you want to be a part of?"

"This isn't a 'welcome to the team' speech," Five spoke up before Vanya could answer. "We're not just accepting you now that we know you have powers. You were always family, and we should have acted like that from the start."

Vanya looked around at the familiar young faces around her, nodding agreement solemnly. She smiled - a small, tired, but genuine smile. "Yeah. Yeah, that's the family I want."


End file.
